Maulbane Picking Flowers?
by Maulbane
Summary: A story where a Tauren picks flowers. Surprisingly, it's more adventuruous and epic than it seems.
1. Bloodthistle for the Soulflayer

Note: Before you start reading keep in mind this story uses some terms not in canon Warcraft lore. For example "Sin Sholai", which is the alliance between the Blood Elves and Forsaken. If there's some things that are confusing it's because this was written originally for the private server "Conquest of the Horde". Now that's out of the way read on!

Maulbane was finally ready to go back out into the world, after the very long Arathi Highlands expedition. The game there was decent as always, but he was more interested in the huge amount of Humans migrating to the newly captured city. Every day for a week, maybe two, he would sit on a sharp incline near a road and just observe the Humans. Time well spent, except for the times they saw him. He also made a "Friend" of sorts, but that's another story for another time.

So, this Tauren had spent enough time back at Thunder Bluff. Suddenly, after maybe five days resting in his home, he suited up, packed his things and left to Ratchet. It was three days hard riding to the port city, but he was up for the challenge. The boat trip to Booty Bay was another two after that... But he was there in good time. He arrived in the middle of some kind of shouting match, Corsairs running around and flinging insults like... Well, sailors. The only reason he was here was to find something to do. He decided, resolutely, that if there was no work for him in three hours he would take the next Zeppelin to Winterspring, a place he loved yet had neglected for a very long time. However, it wasn't to be, for not half an hour after he disembarked the ship he was approached and stared at by an unusual Forsaken. Without small-talk the offer was given and readily accepted, and as Maulbane read the document it began to look more and more like a grocery list... A dangerous one.

He had been there for thirty minutes, and still had no idea what he was going to do. Bloodvine? How the fel am I going to get that? This is already more trouble than it's worth... He already knew two things. One, Bloodvine is only found in Zul'Gurub, and two, you can't get into Zul'Gurub. Which means he was already stumped, and this was the first item on this damned list.

"Think, Maulbane, think..." Near him a Human was sneaking around, hoping to pickpocket the distracted Tauren. Things didn't go the Human's way as a Troll bumped into him. A few minutes later the Troll, Kuweshi, was climbing on top of him and sitting on his large shoulderpads.

"What'cha doin'?"

"Thinking." After that, the Troll bopped him on the head.

"Bout' wut?"

"How to get Bloodthistle." Once again, the bopping was inevitable

"Think 'arder!"

And he did just that. He looked up at the sky to think, then he noticed something. The Gurubashi were Trolls. He needed to get Bloodthistle. This Troll looked like a Gurubashi...

"Say, Troll... Do you want to make some money?"

Raptor foot-beats ran through Stranglethorn as Kuweshi's raptor propelled him through the thick foliage and undergrowth of Stranglethorn Vale. He was fast and swift, avoiding many of the dangers that the vale possessed to get to the most dangerous part of all... Zul'gurub. His goal was set, and the sound of gold jingling in his pocket kept his reasoing for going to "The bad place" strong. It wasn't long before he could see the ruins not far off.

He pulled a dagger from his hip and began to stalk around, hiding where he could until he spotted a single Gurubashi Troll. It was away from the ruins, thankfully.. Kuweshi moved quickly, grabbing the face of the Gurubashi and slitting his throat in a brutal fashion before taking the clothes of the Guru abd putting them on himself. Some kind og thick leather with metal plates on it. It would do as a guise, but he'd need prey to seem a successful hunter back from his trip..

He peered around, watching others dressed similarly attacking the Kurzen compound, taking away screaming Human captives. He did the same, the Gurubashi alongside him thinking him to be one of them. So far, success. He pulled away a human woman as a captive, hefting her over his shoulder and taking her up to the bad place, following the others.

Soon he would be heading up the dreaded slope, heavily armed Gurubashi staring at the captives, grinning and licking their chops. He dragged his Human girl up the slope, and soon he was standing at the gates. His heart was pounding /furiously/ as he stepped inside, keeping his breath low. He knew that the Blood God could smell fear...

After depositing the Human in a hole filled with bones, he saw the first bit of bloodvine and saw it looking rather... vile to the touch. He looked around and saw others harvesting such with knives. He nodded, and reached up with a gloved hand, then harvested a piece, only to be tapped on the shoulder.

The robed man spoke in Zandali. "Headhunter, what are you doing? You are not one to collect the vine."

He looked up to it, then to the man, then sheathed his knife. His heart was racing, and he had to keep himself from passing out...

"I am sorry.." Kuweshi began. "I must have gotten mixed up." He mimicked their accent as best as he could. "I am just of age to be a Headhunter, and that one-" He pointed to a harvester. "Told me I should be doing this."

The robed man moved over and began speaking. "I will not tolerate laziness and sloth among my collectors."-and then slew the other Troll on the spot. Kuweshi stopped himself from cringing. He fled the scene in a quick walk.

Night fell before long, and most of the Gurubashi and Hakkari had gone away. Kuweshi sprung into action and silently killed a straggler with his dagger, kicking it's body into the lake. He found the Bloodvine, and began harvesting. Lookouts were too far away to see him as he did so, filling a pot with it.

He grabbed another pot and moved quickly, dousing the torch of a lookout with what seemed- to the lookout- to be rain. Kuweshi dodged by him to the next bit, pulling it down and killing the pot. He thought for a moment, and knew that two pots would be about one crate.

He pounced the doused lookout and killed him, taking his clothes and torch. He lit it with a wave of his hand, walking calmly to the next bloodvine. He would get there rather safe, and harvested not-so-safe. A raptor popped up and began sniffing him, as if it knew what he was doing. It moved close to his face, then left him be. Kuweshi harvested the bloodvine quickly, moving to the last node.

He got there with no interaction from others, but suddenly heard a terrible voice in his head. He harvested through the voice, which was speaking in some ancient tongue.. something he didn't understand. He knew exactly what was happening.. He had been sensed by Hakkar.

He tried to keep his cool, strapping the last pot to his back, and began heading for the entrance quietly, but it was at the entrange that the voice would overpower him. He collapsed, still conscious as he rose to his feet, opening the front. He ran down the slope and away, lucky to have not been caught. As soon as he was a decent ways away, he fell to his knees, rubbing his face and panting. He had did it...

But at what price?

Was it Hakkar that was speaking? Was he cursed? Was he hexed? He didn't know.. but he did know that fifteen gold was SO not worth it.


	2. Blinded by Blindweed

Things were now in motion. The Bloodvine had been delivered, exactly two crates, to a warehouse in Booty Bay, and the unfortunate troll had been paid the other half of the fifteen gold, and now it was time to go down the list. Just down from Bloodvine was Blindweed, which was found in Swamp of Sorrows. Which was a problem, as he had only been there once. He would have to keep his wits about him. He armored up his Boar and himself, then began preparations.

Very quickly he had Gladestomp saddled up and covered with plates of metal, and having everything he could possibly need. This included a tent, a basket for Goretusk, all of his tools for repairing armor and weapons, food, water and all of his hunting equipment. Gladestomp was more like a pack Kodo than one for riding, so it took all the extra weight in its stride. The left Booty Bay, and the pollution and vice inside it at low noon. Everything was familiar, and he swore he saw a Gorilla he'd killed before.

About halfway out of the city and halfway into the wilderness he was approached from behind by a Troll. Naturally, his first instinct was the jump off of his Kodo and draw his rifle, which he did. "Ey, Mon! Calm down!" which he did. He put the rifle away, and the Troll asked him "Do yah wanna buy somethin'?" The reply being a wary "It depends on what it is.". At that, the Troll placed a bag by his feet. On closer, wary inspection he found at least a hundred small amulets, a weathered diary and another, unique looking amulet. He was interested, and bought all of them for five gold. Something to read on the long trip.

And a long trip it was. There was nothing of note along the entire day-long ride, save for a few encounters with the local wildlife, which ended badly for the local wildlife. He stayed very briefly in Grom'Gol, stocking up at any opportunity. They were filled to the brim when they crossed the border into Duskwood. He hated Duskwood.

Undead everywhere, and Humans everywhere. He would be out of this place as fast as possible. He was usually calm, but not here. He stayed to the side of the road, hoping no Night Watchers saw him, and just crushed any Undead he saw under the Kodo's foot. He shivered constantly, past Raven Hill, Darkshire, anywhere. The entire place challenged his beliefs and what he lived for. He was a patient and calm Tauren, but if this place was to set aflame and everything in it perish he would be happy. He left the accursed region with a few scratches.

The environment began to deteriorate as he entered Deadwind Pass. Even though Duskwood was disgusting and riddled with plague and undeath, it was still "Alive" in a sense. Deadwind was just a wasteland. However, he'd prefer a wasteland to Duskwood any day. The birds were even more crazed than he had heard they would be. Some were so thin they were incapable of flight, and most of the were huddled together in the alcoves that sprout out of the main road. They watched him and his Kodo hungrily for the entire trip, and it unnerved him. The plants he passed were more and more withered, some cracking apart like ash as he rode through them. Another thing that increased was the amount of wind, which didn't bode well.

Soon, though, they were at the infamous Deadwind Bridge. He procrastinated at the beginning of it for a full quarter of an hour before he got the courage to lead his Kodo along it. They almost died twice, and at that point he asked himself "Why am I doing this? Oh... Right...". The Kodo was once knocked to its side, and since Maulbane was holding onto a rope and guiding it, he was flung over with it, hanging precariously over the edge. He barely preserved his life, the Kodo righting itself in the nick of time. The second time was more of the same, leaving his nerves frayed as they cleared the "Bridge".

They found an unpopulated alcove after a quarter of an hour of steady riding, quickly setting up his tent inside it. The armored Boar known as Goretusk lay down beside the tent and kept watch as the Tauren slept with a semblance of peace about him.

The next morning was hurried, getting up just before sunrise and packing the tent and everything else up as quickly as possible. Goretusk was unceremonious thrown into his basket, the Boar's head emerging from it a few seconds later, looking bewildered. Stamphoof didn't protest as he was covered in supplies, and in barely half an hour they were hitting the beaten track. Luckily, most of the not-so-pleasant wildlife was still sleeping, or barely awake yet. But he still rode quickly, hoping to clear the Earthmother-Forsaken place before Noon.

Luckily, after maybe five hours of fast riding and fending off vultures there appeared to be an increase in vegetation. This could mean only one thing, that they were close. Within half an hour Deadwind Pass was gone, transformed into a a swamp. This swamp was known as the Swamp of Sorrows for a reason, and he was going to keep his eyes open. Much more dangerous things than Crocolisks laid in wait in the stagnant depths. He hurried to Stonard, passing many grim-looking Grunts, most of them with burn marks on their armor. He had heard about the Whelps hiding in the foliage. He would have to be that much more careful.

After setting up shop in Stonard and learning a bit about the land itself, as well as the creatures, Maulbane learned where to find Blindweed. To the east of Stonard was a pool of stagnant water with, according to the Grunt he questioned, had at least a crate's worth of Blindweed suffocating it. He didn't really fancy this place, so he set out as soon as possible to get the weed, and indeed this whole region over with. He grabbed his gun and leather armor and began stalking the shadows of the trees and bushes to where the Grunt had put a huge, messy red dot on his map.

This looked like the place. Though it was almost exactly the same as every other part of the swamp, he -did- notice the unusual looking plant hugging every side of the pool. It was an ugly thing, possibly the reason it was given its name. Some of its flowers were a sickly green, and others an almost festering shade of purple. He had a vague idea of what kind of animals lived around this area, so he had Goretusk keep aware, following him. He had his rifle in his hands, bending lowly as he walked to keep a low profile, occasionaly cringing and becoming dead still when he heard something or broke a twig underfoot.

When he got to the plant in question he began to pick it, slowly, and put it into a large burlap sack he had brought along. That's when he heard the quiet flapping of wings. It wasn't like a bird, it sounded as stagnant as the water, as if it was hovering. He muttered to himself quietly "But what kind of creature hovers...?" His question was answered in the form of a green whelp bursting out of the green bushes to his side, latching onto his arm and shrieking enough to wake up the whole damned swamp. It ripped a chunk out of his leg about as big as the space in its tiny mouth before Maulbane grabbed it, ripped it off of his leg (And pulling all of the teeth it had in his leg out) and squeezed, crushing it and covering his hand in blood and internal organs. Goretusk had already snapped out of his docile frame of mind when he heard it burst out of the bush, and was at Maulbane's side as three more siblings burst out of trees and bushes.

Maulbane, gritting his teeth as blood began to run down his leg, shot one in the head, giving the tree a slash of brain matter across it. Goretusk didn't notice the largest and meanest looking Whelp, as well as easily the fattest, fly straight into him and begin biting uselessly at the Boar's plate, getting a few blows in on his underside. Goretusk let out a pained squeal before turning around clumsily and rearing up at it. The Whelp didn't have to to ascend before Goretusk brought its trotters down on its wings, trapping it under... Foot. The Boar turned the Whelp into Whelp mush, angrily shredding it up with the protrustions, otherwise known as tusks, jutting out of his snout.

Meanwhile Maulbane had ducked a probably fatal swipe from a smaller Whelp, trying to keep calm as he bent down and finished reloading. He aimed and fired at the same one who swooped him, who was trying the same trick again. The bullet missed, hitting a gnarled tree two meters to the left. The Whelp was still swooping, but he knocked it to the ground with his gun, which simply caused it to start wildly attacking his foot. It took four tries before he crushed it with a stomp before it finally stopped trying. At this point the youngest and apparently most shy (Though it's hard to tell with Dragons) Whelp span around and began humorously flapping away, shrieking pleas for help... At least, it would have been if he wasn't missing a chunk of his leg. He spat at the ground and gritted his teeth, getting to work as well as patching himself up with the first aid kit he always kept in a leather patch attached to Goretusk's armor. He also grabbed the bodies he could find to use them later.

Soon he had at least two bags worth of the plant, as he compressed it even more inside the bag, and took even more by stuffing it in Goretusk's armor and his own, and even his bag of bullets. He was sure he had at least two crates of the accursed plant when he returned to Stonard. He was lucky, his injuries were very minor considering he just fought off four small Dragons. He went to his Kodo, loading two crates of Blindweed onto it. He grimly ticked off "Blindweed" on his list. "Two down."


	3. Plagued by Plaguebloom

Maulbane saddled up and left Stonard before the sun was even visible. He was fully restocked, food and water replaced and wounds treated. He clambered onto Gladestomp jovially and set off quickly, setting the pace for the journey. He left the depressing atmosphere of the Swamp of Sorrows shortly after sunrise, entering Deadwind Pass. It was the same as before, barren except for dying animals. He fended off many vultures of various build, ranging from near skeletal to bloated. They all met the same fate, however, lying by the roadside or thrown into a crate.

He braved the Deadwind Bridge with a bit more confidence this time, charging across it as quickly as he could. This time was more successful, and he didn't bother looking back. He rode as fast as he could out of the Pass, leaving the gnarled and disgusting flora behind him as he re-entered Duskwood. But only for a while.

He was going to be out of this hellhole as soon as possible. His plan was to go go south from here, to Grom'Gol and take the fastest Zeppelin to Hammerfall. From there, somehow, he would ride up to The Plaguelands. Somehow. The war going on in Arathi wasn't important, he was a smart Hunter and going get around something like that. He's just have to use his wits.

But, back to the matter at hand. He wasn't as lucky with Duskwood this time around. Shortly after circumventing Darkshire, almost being spotted due to a badly timed roar from his Kodo, he was attacked by two skeletons. He would have dispatched them there and then but he wasn't used to Undead. He thought they were like animals at first, quietly observing before they noticed him. One charged him and cut his arm, catching him by surprise. He didn't let it attack a second time, clumsily cleaving it in half as quickly as he could. As he did that an arrow bounced off the blade of his axe, drawing his attention to the other skeleton.

It was about to shoot another arrow at him when Goretusk pounced, having been circling the other skeleton all this time. The force of the Boar, and especially a Boar made of muscle and covered in metal armor, was enough to shatter the skeleton when Goretusk landed on him, all the weight of the animal directed into four little hooves. The skeleton's arrow flew into the air to never be seen again. The skeleton, however, was still flailing madly, as if it cared whether it died or not. Its claws clattered uselessly against Goretusk's armor until he put the skeleton's head in his mouth. It slipped once due to the amount of saliva, but eventually Goretusk was able to get a grip and just chomp down.

The skeleton's consciousness was severed instantly, the forest suddenly silent again. Except for the Wolves, Worgen and Birds, of course.

Maulbane was back on Gladestomp in half a minute, after coming to terms with what happened, as he wasn't used to the Undead at all. He hadn't even fought them before, until now. Doesn't matter, though... Soon he would be back in Stranglethorn. He ignored the animals watching them hungrily from the shadows, thinking they weren't seen. He tried not to break Gladestomp into a "gallop", keeping him at a gentle canter to keep his energy up. Stranglethorn would require the use of it more, as raptors can run faster than any of these Undead things.

And they did. As he entered the jungle he narrowly averted a nest of them, they were living too close to the road. The infants spotted him first, squalling at him and his Kodo like organic alarms. The parents were there in a flash, bursting after Gladestomp, screaming so loud the whole jungle probably heard, but they escaped after he shot own of them down, leaving the others to nurse it back to health. He was lucky nothing worse happened.

Soon, however, night fell upon Stranglethorn Vale. He had set up camp half an hour before the sun dissapeared behind the horizon and had a small fire going. He threw some raw meat from the vultures on. It was lean and would make a better meal than anything else. Afterwards he didn't bother with anything else, letting Goretusk guard the small tent as he slept lightly. The Boar got to snooze in a basket all day, anyway.

The morning after he kicked the fire out with a hoof and hurriedly took apart the tent, finishing preparations to get back on the road by throwing Goretusk into his sturdy basket. Gladestomp made weak, plaintive sounds as the tent all his other supplies were re-attached to him. He began the final leg of the journey to Grom'Gol at sunrise, or around that time hopefully.

By pushing the Kodo's endurance he managed to reach the outpost at noon. Record timing. He was there in time for the next zeppelin, paying for him and and his 'companions' before boarding. Halfway while setting his few posessions small enough to fit enough in his assigned cabin on a little bedside table the huge propellor and engines began to fire up. Smoke and steam burst out of gaps in the zeppelin's undercarriage, the rotor whirring fast enough to turn an ogre into ogre soup. Maulbane fell asleep, hating zeppelins.

Maulbane woke up suddenly, due to an explosion in the engine room. At least, he thought it was one. The Goblins on deck assured everyone that everything was going according to plan and that the noise they heard was planned. Something to do with the propellor letting off gas. It sounded like crap to him. He pushed the worrying thought that the zeppelin could be unstable away as he ate the dry, barely nutritious zeppelin food provided by the Goblins. They said the trip would take two days at most. Time he could spent preparing. To sleep he went.

The next day was boring. He woke up, fed Goretusk, checked on Gladestomp (Who was unceremoniously thrown into the cargo bay the day before) and ate breakfast (possibly lunch). The rest of the day was dedicated to poring over geographical and even political maps of Alterac, The Hinterlands and The Plaguelands. He fell asleep at his small bedside table, snoring peacefully.

The next morning he was poked in the leg by a grumpy looking Goblin. Shortly after Maulbane began to stir the green assailant quickly scurried out, probably to wake everyone else up. Outside his cabin he could hear Orcs and Goblins shouting in unison. They must be at Hammerfall. He threw his armor on over his clothes, clumsily ran down and collected Gladestomp. The trio were greeted by the Arathi sunshine as they connected with the ground once more.

He didn't bother staying in Hammerfall. Instead he rode straight out, prepared for anything that might jump out at him. But he was worried about the Sin'Sholai. He was going to go through Hillsbrad, but that seemed impossible now. He could improvise, though. And improvise he did. He would go around the wall, as far as he could, and find anything. A hole, crack, something he could smash through. Very quickly he was past the Human city of Stromgarde. He dodged as many Alliance patrols as he could, being spotted and chased once. Their arrows bounced off their armor, and soon their horses tired. The Kodo kept moving along, energy reserves barely diminished.

After an indeterminable period of time later Northfold Manor, a big red cross on his map, was now visible. He had to go around it. He broke off the road, Kodo's hooves leaving obvious prints in the grass. He was circling around the Northfold Manor slowly, eyes watching the mountains intently. He had to get there. But his eyes locked onto something else, a group. A Dwarf, two Humans and an Elf were trying to be sneaky, walking the same way he was a dozen or so meters ahead. He didn't see any kind of threat so far from them, so he approached them on his Kodo. After they all turned around warily, the Elf putting her hand to her sword, he said plainly, almost as if they were conducting a trade "Human". The Human, Will, raised an eyebrow. He added "I know where you're going. I'm going the same way.". Will replied hastily that they were leaving Stromgarde and he didn't mind if he followed. Maulbane gave a quick nod and the attention was suddenly taken away from the gigantic, armored bovine to the path ahead of them. They really were in a hurry.

The fear of being caught by the Sin'Sholai slowly left him and the others as they began to go along the mountains. They were so close to the wall they could see it assaulting the skyline, blocking the clouds from view. Northfold Manor was behind them now, luckily his Kodo kept quiet along the whole stretch to the wall. Within half a minute they were at the base of the huge structure, where Will pointed to a not as huge, but still large hole in it. With effort he guided his Kodo through, and suddenly they were in Hillbsrad. Well, not suddenly, but very quickly. The spiders, for one, had light green fur. While they looked pretty because of this, it was bad, because they blended into the light green plants.

Regardless of the camoflagued spiders, Hillsbrad was a tame region in terms of wildlife. Spiders and Bears didn't worry him in the slightest. What did was the fact that Forsaken had a tight grip on the whole region, and he would be happy to be out quickly. Which, if all went to plan, they would be. And they were.

Barely an hour or two into entering Hillsbrad they already left. The sun was starting its descent, giving Maulbane a strict timeline. He wasn't nocturnal, he didn't know about the Elf or the Dwarf though. On the matter at hand however they were already leaving Hillsbrad, following a twisting path into the region known as The Hinterlands. More unknown territory to him. Not great, but at least it's not the worst that could happen.

Afternoon sun burned the Human's faces as their trudged along the track, Maulbane at the rear with his various companions. At one point the Elf and Human fell behind for a few seconds, but they quickly caught up again. Maulbane, as always, kept a steady, gentle pace. He would definitely find somewhere to stay today, he didn't have to rush.

The sun was touching the trees as they saw Aerie Peak in the distance. Jyorn, the Dwarf, brightened up visibly as they neared it. Maulbane didn't, though. Lethium pointed out "We're going to have to split up. We'll go find a place for Maulbane to wait for us, you keep going". Maulbane nodded, and they dived off the edge of the road. Goretusk rolled down. When they got to the bottom Lethium ran out, telling Maulbane to wait there. A minute later he returned, pushing through branches and beckoning him towards the signs of civilisation ahead, which were an abandoned cart and a half-destroyed barrel. He went out of the undergrowth, looking around silently. His eyes locked onto the Dwarven home ahead of them.

After a bit of cautious exploration he found out that the hovel was abandoned. He had to take off his shoulder armor to fit in the front door, but it was cosy inside. Lethium began to hide Maulbane's Kodo, and he drifted into an unguarded sleep. The more rest he had the better. It was already getting dark, hopefully he would get up bright and early.

Which he did. He was pushed awake by none other than Lethium, calmly rising to his feet. Goretusk stumbled up from his own nap, having curled into a ball in the corner of the hovel shortly after Maulbane fell asleep. The sun was shining into the house, through the open door. His grogginess wore off quickly, he didn't have time to waste. He expertly buckled his shoulderpads on (After going outside, of course), then slid his helmet on. He decided to also borrow three kegs of explosives that were lying around the house, vulnerable. He pushed them in tightly under Gladestomp's armor, the Kodo giving no complaint.

After this was done Lethium pointed out "The others are coming now." Maulbane nodded silently, taking a few steps towards the house, hooves kicking up dust. And they were coming, four silhouettes sprouting from the road like dark saplings. As they got closer they became more defined and detailed, so that they were unmistakable from who he traveled with yesterday. Two Humans, an Elf and a Dwarf. Oh, and a Tauren. What a team.

The Human beckoned the others over, and they began to mingle around Featherbeard's Hovel. Maulbane threw the camoflague (Leaves upon leaves) off of Gladestomp, making him ready for travel. The others took a bit longer to gear up, but it was all in all a very short wait. They were about to head off, Maulbane on a saddled and polished-looking Gladestomp and the Humans on their (probably sore) feet when the Dwarf, Jyorn, broke the silence with a declaration. "Well, it's been fun, but I think gonna stay in Aerie Peak." The statement was met with quiet nods, and farewells. He wandered in the opposite direction of the group, towards the Wildhammer town of Aerie Peak.

They made quick time, riding through The Hinterlands. Maulbane wanted to, but didn't spent any time observing the animals or plants. Straight through was the ticket. Will knew more about this place than he, and Maulbane almost got lost twice. The Human lead him to a path, one even more twisted than the one through Hillsbrad. Not a great sign, but he wasn't one to complain. The plants began to die, unnoticeably at first, but then it was unable to be ignored.

They were crossing the undefined border from civilisation into... Well... Plague. Plaguelands, to be precise. Duskwood paled in comparison to this place. The plants look alien, not of this world. Not only corrupted, completely separate from what they used to be, turned into something new and malign. There were no animals anywhere that he could see.

The sun was violently blocked by the clouds of what seemed to be gaseous plague. A horrible orange hue cast over everything. Nothing was pure, and Maulbane tensed up. He already loathed this place beyond his usual threshold. They left the track, entering the Western Plaguelands proper. And he thought the track was bad. They were traveling alongside a river. The bank they were on was completely abandoned by flora and fauna alike, as if they had retreated to the semblance of safety in The Hinterlands long ago, refugees from the plague. On the other side of the bank was the once proud city of Caer Darrow. Now, Maulbane didn't even have a clue what it was.

The hills and cliffs from the track suddenly stopped, leaving an almost vertical slope to conquer. Maulbane slid down carefully on Gladestomp, trying not to alert the insidious things in the necropolis. Will helped Faier down, and Lethium finished the quartet, rolling down loudly, armor hitting every rock it could as if it were seeking them out as he rolled down. When he hit the bottom everything was silent again, but he saw dozens, maybe scores of lithe shapes stare silently at them. He tried to ignore them, willing them away with his mind. He spoke to Lethium, hushed. "Be quiet!". Lethium winced and replied "I didn't mean it!", just as quietly as Maulbane. He shrugged, and the silence wasn't broken again as they continued down the riverbank.

The bank was bleak for its entirety, which they were about to finish traversing. Maulbane added a quick dot every kilometer or so, so he could tell where he was. They were nearing the old Andorhal cemetary, now known as Sorrow Hill, the place of Uther's Burial. The river turned and cut through their previous path, making a waterfall. There were only a few rocks giving them passage over the river, and they contemplated the river for a while before slowly crossing it, the Humans jumping from rock to rock cautiously and Maulbane striding, just as carefully. The Kodo just plodded through the river itself, making sure none of the water got on its mouth, with Goretusk in his basket, safe from the splashes. At this point all were safely across except Lethium, who was still crossing. Towards the end he slipped, getting his foot in some of the plauge-ridden water. Maulbane was hasty to call back to him "Don't touch that water.". Lethium frowned with a hint of fear before he quickly wiped the "water" off with a boot. He hurried after the group quickly.

The only thing separating the four from the cemetery was what looked like a hill. They wasted no time in scrambling up it. As they got to the top the lay of the land was visible. The cemetery was huge compared to the ones Maulbane had been used to back in Mulgore. Gargantuan. There weren't as many undead as he expected, but they were visible, dotting the place, lying on the ground, hiding from the sun, shambling across their own personal paths that appeared to change every second. One moment they would be walking forwards to a tree, the next moment they had veered off like a broken cart towards an unmarked grave. Within seconds it was back, shambling towards the tree. Maulbane noted this in his head, happy they weren't too bright. Though there were more insidious looking Scourge, ones in platemail and malicious, red-eyed looks bursting out of their helmets. He also noted what -looked- like their weak points, if they had to fight them. Which they would, if things turned out as expected. Even if it didn't, they had to go through this cemetary.

Maulbane quietly stalked down the incline into the cemetary. The others followed with discretion, as if trying to compensate for Maulbane's lack of stealth. Regardless of how hard they tried, the undead seeing them was inevitable. They had reached the bottom of the incline and then some when a skeletal soldier began wildly rushing at them. The sound of the metal plates slamming together as it ran alerted everything else in a large radius. Soon ghouls, Mindless Ones, former Andorhal citizens and skeletons were all following the scene with their hollow, if not nonexistant eyesockets. It didn't take long for them to follow suit, beginning a wild charge towards them.

Maulbane was prepared. He threw his spear at the skeleton who began the whole affair, pinning it to the ground with a shattered shoulderblade. He span around, his axe already in his other hand and cleaved a ghoul into two pieces from the chest. Will began impaling zombies, deflecting blows from every direction with his shield while taking skilled shots at whatever he could get a stab into, which was working so far. Faier took a defensive stance, staying behind Will and stabbing whatever broke through her fleshy barrier. Lethium was behind Maulbane, pushing things back with his shield, trying to keep away from their enemy while they pushed forward. Goretusk was circling everyone else, tripping the undead over and biting at what he could. The whole scene looked like a mobile fortress, pushing through the swarming undead desperately.

They couldn't ignore the fact that for every undead they put to rest two more sprung up and took their place. They weren't able to keep the horde of scourge back much longer. At that point Will shouted at the group "There's too many! To the tomb!". Maulbane didn't hesitate, hanging onto Gladestomp and charging towards Uther's tomb, the only holy ground in the whole of the Plaguelands to his knowledge. As they began to retreat up the hill they turned around, picking off the scourge strong enough to push this far up. Slowly the undead began to fall backwards, unable to pierce the invisible, holy barrier that surrounded the tomb. The tomb itself was nearly empty on the surface, a few paladins, mainly Humans and Argent Dawn, patrolling the premises. They eyed the group with distaste, preparing to draw swords. The Night Elf tending the tomb looked up briefly at them, then continued his work.

The four (or six) tried not to meet the wrathful eyes of the paladins as they pass the tomb, leaving the undead at the base of the hill to disperse. They walked right past the tomb, too tired to pay homage, and found themselves at a sheer drop to the cemetery below. The undead were thinning out this close to the exit, as most of them probably raced over to the other side when the battle began. Lethium broke his chain of thought with a suggestion "How about I charge through them on Goretusk? Make a path?" Maulbane nodded, then clambered onto Gladestomp "I'll help.". The other two got ready, and suddenly the Boar and Kodo burst over the incline, hanging in the air for a second before hitting the ground running, with Lethium swinging at everything he could see as he charged towards the end of the cemetery, Maulbane chopping the ghouls that leaped at him in half while his Kodo smashed through the undead too slow to get out of its way. Faier and Will quickly ran through the path made by the team, nothing left to resist their exodus.

Chillwind camp was barely a few minutes from the cemetery, and finally they could all rest. The Argent Dawn here were less angry, most of them Humans, but a sprinkling of Orcs, Forsaken and Dwarves was to be seen also. They welcomed the group in, allowed them to purchase supplies (Maulbane, however, had everything he needed) and gave them a few beds to use. However, Will and Faier had other plans. They were going to return to... Southshore? Stormwind? Maulbane had only heard the name a few times, but it was a Human town. He gave them a nod and a few words in farewell, but suddenly Lethium spoke "Well, I'm going to stay.". Maulbane was caught off-guard by that comment, but accepted it. He wasn't one to deny the help of a friend, as long as he could pull his weight. "Fine. But we need to rest now." Lethium nodded in agreement, and while the Elf and Human began to leave on Gryphons, they began to sleep. Tomorrow would be, if that's even possible, more dangerous.

They woke up at the very crack of dawn. That is to say, Maulbane did, as usual. Lethium slept in, obviously not used to Maulbane's near-insane sleeping pattern. He was roughly shaken awake, and groggily rose and began to prepare to collect the Plaguebloom. Before he woke up Lethium he had questioned the Argent Dawn guards, and one of them knew where plaguebloom grew. The answer wasn't the one he wanted. Apparently it grew reclusively and rarely. The only places it had been spotted in harvestable amounts were... Well... Plague Cauldrons. Without fail, it only and always grew profusely around Plague Cauldrons. Maulbane didn't know whether this was great or bad. Regardless of what it was, he was on his Kodo and riding with Lethium out of Chillwind Camp as soon as the Human was geared up. They hit the road at about six or seven o'clock...

...And were eyeing the aptly named Felstone Field. It was filled with Scourge. Every two square meters had a zombie on it, and every square that didn't have a zombie on it had one shuffling towards it. The whole scene in front of them was like a twisted, undead version of twister. Even Maulbane, who had seen beasts that dwarfed some trees fall, crushed baby dragons in his hands, braved things most Humans don't even know exist... Even he was scared. There was really, no way he could see to get the plaguebloom growing around the macabre cauldron in the centre of the field. Except for... Just then, a dull sound came from the undergrowth ahead of them.

Maulbane and his companions were safely hidden in what remained of the trees. The twenty-man Scarlet force was not. They were sneaky enough to evade the gaze of the mindless Scourge, but not the Tauren Hunter with fine-tuned ears. They were congregating on the edge of the farm, some of them in rags, some of them in near-pristine chainmail and chargers. The only thing that was definite between all of them was their grim, fanatical faces and the Scarlet colored apparel. By the look of how rigid they were, the fact they were brandishing weapons, it didn't take a genius to tell they were preparing for a skirmish on the farm. They had flawless timing. Maulbane pointed them out to Lethium, then said, quietly "When they charge, we do. Ride straight through the farm and grab as much of the weed as you can." Lethium nodded, face almost as grim as the Scarlets'.

Maulbane began counting down quietly, tapping his fingers almost restlessly. "Five... Four... Three... Two... One..." The Scarlets burst out of what could be called cover, shouting stupid, pointless phrases about abominations and the light. The paladins were in front on crimson chargers, roaring defiantly in the face of death like true, respectable heroes. In all honesty, Maulbane couldn't stand the fanatical Human fools when they acted like this. He signalled to Lethium, leapt onto Gladestomp and kicked it gently in the side, with a determined amount of force, and the charge begun. Lethium trailed alongside the Kodo's right side, and as the Tauren neared the farm he leaped off the Kodo, but didn't fall to the ground. Instead he hung onto the side of Gladestomp, both hands freed, and slowly bending down, tying a knot to one of the hooks coming out of a barrel, crate, he didn't look to see what it was. He tied the knot and began lowering himself down so he was low enough to begin scooping up the plant in armfuls, pulling himself back up when he saw an undead come his way. Lethium was using a different tactic, leaping off the Horse and plucking out as much of the plant as he could before remounting.

Regardless of how they did it, they ended up reaching the other side of the farm without a casualty. They were still being chased by wayward Scourge, however, so just to be safe the Kodo continued its wild course through the forest, crushing everything in its way before stopping in front of an infected Bear, which was quickly crushed with a a hoof. It kept moving, which began to distress the Kodo. Meanwhile, however, Lethium had been hit in the back by a small fireball, sent by one of the Scarlets. Maulbane had scratches across the entirety of his armor, but everything held during the wild rush. After Lethium's minor burn was tended to with quick application of herbs and a strange, viscous ointment, they began to count their loot, loot in the form of a disgusting, withered weed. Maulbane had about a sack and a half filled, Lethium about half a sack... The Tauren pulled a decent-sized crate off of Gladestomp, putting it on the ground next to them. He began, very carefully, tipping the sack into the crate. Lethium poured his in too. The plaguebloom was just below the brim of the crate, looking fairly ugly as it presented itself to the sky. Maulbane shrugged and threw a lid over it "One crate.". Lethium's eyes widened "Only -one- crate?!" Maulbane nodded, with a hint of graveness, at Lethium "One crate. We'll have to get another." With that he got on Gladestomp and began plodding off to where, on his now fraying map, was a hastily drawn "X" over the farm now known as Dalson's Tears.

They were there in half an hour. None of the infected animals or wandering Scourge gave them trouble. Everything was going... Good? As good as things could go, really. Considering they were in the middle of the Western Plaguelands, about to charge through a Plague Cauldron because they needed a flower. At times he questioned how much he really needed the coin.

He pushed such questions aside, instead hiding Gladestomp in the undergrowth and waiting for the inevitable second raid on this Cauldron. It happened quickly, he had noticed the Humans prowling around the decrepit buildings, trying to be sneaky. He waited as they waited, all of them in a strange kind of symmetry, symbiosis. Maulbane needed them to get his plaguebloom, and the Scarlets could use his Kodo in demolishing the undead. Everyone's... Well, not exactly happy. Regardless, it was convenient for both sides. The Scarlets charged in the same manner as the last time, horses at the front and spellcasters at the back, trying to immolate everything that wasn't already red. Maulbane and Lethium were already off, mounts tearing across the farmland and through the precious plaguebloom.

It went the same as before, they charged through while the Scourge and Scarlets weren't looking, managing to clear a lot of ground before being noticed at all. Maulbane did his same trick, hanging from the Kodo's side and grabbing as much as he could, Lethium getting dismounted and attacked by a Scarlet warrior before kicking him away and remounting. The Scourge ignored them, attacking the annoying red-clad Humans instead. They kept riding as fast as they could, even when they were past the farm. They stopped in an unintelligible, forested area. Maulbane hopped of the Gladestomp and began to check what he got in return for risking his life. After throwing a crate down next to him he began filling it up... And with Lethium's (meagre this time) donation, they had another crate filled... For a moment he didn't actually believe he was finished.

Then they noticed they were close to a Scarlet camp, the source of the raiders. They quickly moved around it, and eventually found the road again. They sat by a destroyed building, the Tauren crushing a plagued squirrel out of pity. At this point, Maulbane mused to himself "Hm... Plaguebloom... Now we need..." He spoke to Lethium, louder "We will need to split up, you go to Southshore and I will go to Hammerfall... We'll meet at the Dark Portal."... But he began to see the flaw in his plan quickly, as well as Lethium's paling face. Instead... "No. We meet in Northrend. Lethium, get to Southshore and take a boat to Theramore, Menethil, anyway, just end up in Valiance Keep. I will take a Zeppelin to Warsong Hold." Lethium nodded with hesitation at that, then peered around. He said "Well... I'll be seeing you." Maulbane nodded gruffly, and the two parted ways in the middle of the Western Plaguelands.


	4. Constricted by Constrictor Grass

Lethium watches Maulbane leave his sight as he heads South, back from where they came. Lethium decides to head towards Chillwind camp, taking a gryphon towards Menethil Harbor. Once he sneaked through the Ruins of Andorhal, he took a gryphon to go towards his destination. Sadly, the beast had only enough strength to stop by the encampment in front of Don Modr. He got off the Gryphon and waved goodbye to the Dwarves as he headed to Menethil on foot.

He looked at his map and it showed he was at least halfway to Menethil Harbor. He decided to take a break and took a seat on the side of the road, leaning on the fence. He took out dried meat, which he had in his bag, and ripped off a piece, sticking it into his mouth. He looked around, sad to be looking at a marshland instead of the forests of Elwynn. He gets up and packs his things. "This is going to be one lousy trip.." All of a sudden there was a noise of someone running, footsteps. He turned to the noise, in the nearby hills. He yells, "Anyone there!?" Nothing comes out or responds so he thinks it's a critter and

As he sees the silhouette of Menethil, he grinned. "Finally.." All of a sudden an Orc bursts from behind striking him in the back. With the greatest luck, his shield, which was on his back, deflected the hit, making him fall forward. He turns and brings around his shield and sword, kissing his shield as he slides it on. He takes a look at the Orc's apparel and is very surprised. He notices the Orc has a mask as well as leather armor instead of a plate suit, but it carries a two-handed sword. He prepares for the worst and charges with his shield.

The Orc brings down his blade in a vertical motion, aiming at Lethium's shield. He dodges and tries to bring his sword, cleaving at the Orc's stomach region. It lands, but the force wasn't strong enough to puncture through the heavy leather. The Orc kicks him backwards, making him stumble a few steps back. The Orc jumps up and tries to bring it once more in a style where it would easily crush anything he aimed at. He brings his sword down as Lethium uses his sword to parry it, while his shield helps block it. He makes it into a V like pattern, and it doesn't break through. Lethium's legs do crumble though, the Orc laughing. He slowly gets up, obviously not able to withstand another hit like that. He looks around and sees something to his advantage... Something to change the possible outcome of the battle.

The Orc begins to run after Human, who had about a ten second head start, running through the marshes. The reason why he had such a long head start was because how dumbfounded the Orc was when he saw the ugly Human make a break through the marshes. He smiles behind his mask. "Easy kill.." He says in Orcish. He runs after the Human at an incredible rate, astounding himself. He closes in on the Human, smiling as he sees his face turn scared, helpless. He doesn't look around, but just at the Human's face, smiling under his mask. He jumps as high as he cans when he finally catches up to the Human. "Now you die!" He yells. All of a sudden, timed seem to have slowed. The Human had a grin on his face.. Was he stupid... Happy he was about to die.. It didn't matter.. As long as he could kill a Human, it didn't matter.

Lethium goes under the Orc as quick as he can avoiding the blow. The Orc yells as he turns. "Rawrglrlrl!" The Orc slowly turns, facing his death. A group of Murlocs charge at the Orc, biting into his skin as he tries to get them away. He screams in pain, seeing Lethium's back one more time.

The Human tricked me... He got me.. How did.. How did he get me.. This isn't possible.. A Human tricked a cunning Orc like me? An Orc which has the power of at least five puny Humans.. Damn.. I won't die! "I'll get you Human! Ju-..." The voice of the Orc could be heard no more, but only the voices of Murlocs fighting for the remains of his corpse.

Lethium arrives at Menethil Harbor, tired and hungry. He walks into the Inn, leaving mud as he walks inside. He speaks to the Innkeeper, pointing to his track of mud and pays the woman a gold piece. He walks upstairs with a key and a plate of food, along with a cup of ale. He opens a door and walks inside, taking off his boots, deciding to clean his armor and weapons later. He places the plate aside and strips his armor. He leaves only his undergarments and eats. Afterward, he gets a towel from the Innkeeper, then cleans his armor, wiping away at the Mud, washing it in a small tub of water. He makes sure to dry it so it doesn't rust, and when he finishes he heads to bed, falling asleep almost instantly.

The next morning, fully dressed in his armor and with his belongings he heads out to catch the boat to Northrend, which had luckily came on the next day. He gets on the boat, paying forty silver pieces to the Captain for the trip and rests in one of the cots.

He arrives in Valiance Keep and quickly asks a guard for a map of the area. The guard points to a cartographer and she gives him a map to the area. It was huge, and they even plotted Warsong Hold, the Keep where the Horde land. He heads towards Warsong Hold, taking refuge in a nearby cliff overlooking the entrance. Once there he only needed to wait a day until Maulbane erupts from the entrance. He falls down the cliff and reunites with the friend to help him on his journey to finish Maulbane's dangerous quest.

Maulbane had now been through the Hinterlands, and Arathi, twice. He saw the same things, slept in the same places, and in general everything was "Been here, done that.". However, when he arrived in Warsong Hold via Zeppelin -everything- was new, in a way you could only understand if you were there. His Kodo was only as big as a Rhino Calf, the entire place made him rethink his old methods of hunting briefly. But that's not related to this story. What was, was the fact that he was riding out of the Hold with Lethium in tow. They needed to find Constrictor Grass. First he needed to know what on Azeroth this thing is. Due to that, there was a huge red circle around the town known as Taunka'Le. He needed to get there, as he knew the Taunka would know about local, or even far away plants.

The road was beaten and slightly frigid as Lethium walked alongside Gladestomp. The Kodo was unnerved by the Rhinos, growling at them as he would to a rival male of his own species. Maulbane pushed him along, keeping a steady pace. Lethium climbed onto the Kodo's side, saving some of his energy. Maulbane was wide-eyed as he looked around the landscape he was in, taking it all in. It truely was something to behold, the creatures there were beyond imagining. Gorloks? Mammoths? He was in his element, that of nature, but it didn't feel like his element. Everything was surreal. However, nothing made him slow, not even encounters with a Magnataur or Gorlok brood. He barely survived the former, retreating ahead with a huge bruise on Gladestomp's hide. Night began to fall on the Tundra then, and the snow began to recede, giving way to a generous coating of snow. They were nearing Taunka'Le. Maulbane called to Lethium "You're going to have to camp here. The Taunka are allies with the Horde..." Lethium nodded, and caught a small tent as it was thrown to him. He walked off the road, setting up with what little daylight was left.

Maulbane rode into the Taunka town, glances being thrown at the Boar and Kodo. They probably haven't seen many of either, which warranted the curious glances. However, he was quickly welcomed into the camp, the atmosphere warm and inviting. He shared some of his "Alien" meats from Azeroth with his Taunka brothers, and in return they increased his palette by donating some Rhino and Mammoth meat from their own hunts. The Taunka reminded him a lot of the old, nomadic Tauren, of which he still remembered fondly. It brought him back to his old, childhood days. As the Taunka told each-other stories around a bonfire, the night being suspended by the wonderous glow of the flame, his mind began to wander, touching on old memories. He hadn't been able to do this in a long time, and it made him happy. However, he was here on a job, and he pulled out his scroll and pointed at two of the names, showing them to the local herbalist. The herbalist, who went by the name of Anuk Geyserstride (An amusing story was told after Maulbane asked how he earned that name), told him that Constrictor Grass was a rare herb, with rarer tendencies. It only grew on Elemental creatures. Why this was so was unknown to the Taunka, but they had myths. He was then told the nearest Elementals that harbour this herb were in Dragonblight, a place called... Lotharel? Lotharien's Woods? The name was quick, and he missed most of it. Regardless, his mind snapped back into its usual self, devising plans even as he placed his head down and began to sleep.

He rose out of sleep almost by willpower at the crack of dawn. The sun cast beautifully onto the town, which had a light coating of sleet on it. All it needed was snow to be a winter wonderland. However, sad enough as it was, he didn't have time to waste on the beauty of the town. He had a Human to collect. And so, riding Gladestomp solemnly out of the town at the crack of dawn, he found the road and began going in the opposite direction of where they were going, to find the Human Lethium. Which wouldn't be too hard, he was a Hunter after all...

And it wasn't. He spent the majority of the day exploring Warsong Hold, then following a group spearheaded by a young Orc (At least he assumed by his demeanor, as he had too much armor on to tell properly.) into the town of Kaskala. He accompanied them, generally helping out of good-will and respect to the Tuskarr. His anger was brought to the surface at a Troll who tried to kill itself twice. After throwing said Troll into a Zeppelin he set out to grab the Human and finish the trek into Dragonblight. He was once again passing Kaskala when of all things he saw an Elf. A Night Elf, the kind he didn't loathe. He rose to his feet steadily, as he had been resting on a small hill. holding his axe, not threateningly but defenensivly, he spoke. "Elf." The Elf, Seleyn, replied... "Human?"... Maulbane questioned why an Elf would be in Borean Tundra, and she said, simply, that she was a Hunter. At least they had something in common. Skipping over every detail, she agreed to join him, for the sake of the hunting that could be done. The trio (not counting Goretusk or Gladestomp.) set out to Dragonblight at high noon...

And arrived at the border between Borean Tundra and Dragonblight at late afternoon.

The unlikely team looked at the single bridge that connected Borean Tundra from Dragonblight. Or, rather, what was underneath. Which was a river... The first river he had seen in Northrend. This river, however, would instantly pull you under and kill you if you tried to take a dip, which was why Maulbane was so hesitant in crossing. They did it, though, the threat of the bridge breaking looming over them as they did so, one by one. The other side of the bank was indistinct from the one they had just come from, which was good. Maulbane wasn't a huge fan of sudden change. The Nerub'ar didn't even consider Maulbane when they leaped at his Kodo, trying to kill it. Generally being selfish. About ten of the tiny little spider imitators began swarming around the group, Maulbane chopping one in mid-air as it leaped at his torso. He put his axe on his back and proceeded to shoot another out of the air, the bullet so large in comparison to the ambusher that it exploded, legs flying in any direction they wanted, freed from the burden known as a body. Lethium drove his sword into another, impaling it and quickly swinging around to jab another, created a still-twitching Nerub kebab. While Lethium continued his macabre recipe, Goretusk ripped another apart with his tusks, Seleyn firing very quick shots, pumping yet another with arrows. Gladestomp shied away from the things climbing up his legs, but managed to shake them off and crush them all. As the remaining... Things... Retreated, Maulbane checked their losses, and they appeared to be nonexistant. Nobody got hurt at all. He let out a chuckle at their luck, and they continued on...

Seleyn and Lethium went to the small sentinel encampment of Star's Rest while Maulbane began the long and ardous process of figuring out what to do about these elementals... And so the stake-out began. He rode into the woods, and instantly saw the first danger. This place was corrupted. Malygos had been at work here... The extent of the damage was worse than anything the arcane could do to any individual... It was so bad that fissures were bursting out of the ground, creatures made completely of arcane energy forming and attacking the sentient creatures of the forest. Treant and Ancient alike were being assaulted, mana wyrms digging holes into the Ancients, bark glowing and melting away as it did so. The Ancients were putting up a fight, but the creatures continued to attack, burrowing into everything and corrupting it. He shivered even more as he prowled around in his white leather, but this time not due to the cold. This is why the arcane had to be avoided. Foolish mages, saying it was pure... He knew better. They had not seen what it does... But he had to think about the things at hand. As depressing as this bleak scene was, it made his job easier. He could destroy one of the corrupted Ancients instead. It would help clear his conscience about all this, if anything. He left in the middle of the night to his camp, protected by a Kodo and Boar. He hoped that would be enough to fend off what lurked in the night as his eyes slowly closed and invited sleep...

It was morning. As usual, he was up early. Very early. He quickly packed and rode to the designated meeting point (A unique looking tree just outside of the arcane wyrms' reach.). There he told them what they would do, and how they would kill an Ancient.

They began without complaint as the imaginary roosters crowed in Maulbane's head. Heh, he hadn't seen a rooster in a very long time, but he remembered things others didn't. Details, details, details. Those were the things that could win a battle. Whether someone's armor was made of lion or wolf hide... But that didn't matter now. He had to get busy, and so he did. Lethium looking confused when Maulbane pulled out four lengths of rope and began tying them. He explained to him that this was the same way he managed to kill the Devilsaur.. Lethium raised an eyebrow but didn't speak as he was thrown a piece of rope. This particular rope had a few pieces of long, thin strands of steel woven in it to strengthen it. He tied two of these ropes together so that they spanned at least fifteen meters. He knew it would break after a while, but that didn't concern him. The livelihood of the rope wasn't his focus at the moment. He found two healthy looking trees and threw the rope around them. "Seleyn, tie that, please.". As she began, he, at the same time, tied it to another tree. Soon the improvised and possibly fatal (for them) trap was ready. He gave the rope, which was at his shoulders in height now, a kick. It resulted in a sharp twang, but it didn't loosen. He closed his eyes and hoped it would work, and then they began the search for a corrupted Lothalor Ancient.

The search wasn't hard. The whole area was teeming with corruption itself, and as such almost all the Ancients they saw were infected by the arcane. He found a smaller one, about three times his own height, and it began there. Maulbane snapped at Goretusk commandingly, and the Boar sped towards the Ancient without a hint of doubt. The Ancient, senses dulled by the taint on its mind, took a few moments to notice the Boar biting its feet, but when it did it let out a bellowing roar and the purple eyes narrowed onto the Boar. It aimed a wild stomp at the Boar, but Goretusk leapt back, sliding across the snow and turning, beginning to lead the Ancient to the trap, who was none the wiser. It lumbered towards the Boar, letting out crackling sounds, not like the kind you hear when you snap a branch in half. When it hit the rope, everything was planned in his head. The Ancient slammed into the ground, the tusks jutting from its head trapped in the ice. Like he planned. Seleyn climbed onto the Ancient's body and began hacking at it with her axe, as planned. Lethium held one of Maulbane's guns uncertainly, aiming it at the gigantic tree, not exactly planned but appreciated nonetheless. And then there was Maulbane, walking quietly up to the Ancient as its arms punched Goretusk into a tree, winding the Boar and making it hop away, wheezing for air. The Tauren stared into the now beastial eyes of the Ancient, which was even now trying to dislodge its head from the ground and kill him. He shook his head, sighing, tightened his grip on the harpoon... And everything around him was silent again, the harpoon still in the Ancient's forehead. He began to collect the plant, which seemed to unimportant now, off of its back, forlornly. He ignored the pain in his arm from driving the harpoon that far into its skull.

Maulbane hated his job sometimes.


	5. Goldclover, not worth it

Maulbane was lying down in the military base of Agmar's hammer. The guards treated him with suspicion as they didn't like freelancers or mercenaries, both of which they thought Maulbane was. He didn't care, he had important things to do... He willed away his melancholy for now. It wasn't the time for this, he had done the right thing after all...! Back onto the subject at hand. Anything to catch his attention. Luckily, he found it... The Taunka in Taunka'le had told him the closest place to find Deadnettle was growing... The Ruby Dragonshrine, or scattered across the Tundra, growing around a plant called Goldclover. He leaned up and sat on the hammock, legs hanging over the edge. He clasped his head in his hands, breathing into them heavily. As much as he was against going there for moral reasons, the ability to be able to say to people that he had picked flowers grown on Dragons was overpowering his better judgement. He pulled his armored leggings on, and began preparations to go to the place where Dragons die. Maybe the Northrend air was making him crazy, he didn't know. He screwed up his face as he packed, realising just how stupid this was. This wasn't like him... But then again, riding to Northrend on the whim of a Forsaken wasn't like him either. Touche. When he was fully armed and armored, five javelins, an axe and a spear on his back, his two guns on his belt and a harpoon held in one hand like a walking stick. He walked up to a Grunt, who watched him with distaste. "Tell me, Orc. Do you know where to find the Ruby Dragonshrine?" The Orc regarded him calmly for a few seconds, then burst out laughing. "Y'mean the place under attack by the Scourge?"

Scourge? He shrugged, and prepared a little more. He could deal with Scourge. Maybe.

Now he was properly ready. He was going to try the same thing with the Cauldrons. Charge in, pick it, charge out. Hopefully they'll be too busy fighting to notice him... He went to their camp at noon. He said to them what he was doing and urged for them not to come with him, but their minds were set like the steel in his axe. Maulbane had a philosophy that people could do what they want as long as they could take the consequences that could come from it. The Elf and Human knew the consequences, and so he let them follow him, east, to the Dragonshrine. The team of five would have been something to behold for a normal person. Luckily there aren't many normal people traversing Dragonblight, so they were in the clear. Except for the Blue Dragonflight that could spot them at any moment, the Nerubian stragglers always lurking in a shadow or two. Thanks to skill and a dashing of luck, they managed to remain unnoticed enough to see a gigantic black shadow of a tree on the horizon, just peering over the edge of the cliffs surrounding it like a shy animal. A gigantic, wooden animal... But Maulbane didn't like the shapes swooping around the tree and above it. They moved in elegant patterns, moving with streamlined motions high into the air and diving down, looking like his javelins as they descended. And so, Maulbane saw his first Dragon.

Sadly, he couldn't dwell on the sight for too long. Soon he began to hear the sounds of battle, unmistakable. The roar of an Orc, something colliding against a shield. A Dragon, shouting to its comerades in draconic. It was so surreal... Dragons... A battleground, and here he was picking flowers. Maybe he -was- insane... Something to ponder later. But now he was watching the Horde push the Scourge back into the shrine. A wall of Taunka and Tauren made up the front lines, axes and spears holding back a swarm of Geists climbing on all fours up the ramp into the Dragonshrine. The Dragons in the air were burning whole lines of Geists as they too tried to push back the tide of Scourge. Maulbane didn't know what to do. Well, he knew something he could do. Blindly charge with the Horde as they pushed in. And charge he did... The Horde fended back the last wave of Geists, and with a yell from an apparent commander to push forward. The Horde let out a roar, like a single organism, and began to run down the ramp. Maulbane followed on his Kodo, Seleyn and Lethium hiding under a cloth draped over it.

The Ruby Dragonshrine was a sight to behold, but not for long. The Horde were cutting a swathe through the Scourge, like a slash of an axe they charged through the shrine. Maulbane followed as closely as he could, doing his part, throwing a javelin into an approaching Geist. As the Horde kept moving, he tried to keep up. Occasionaly he would leap off the Kodo, spotting a clump of yellow weed. Somewhere to his left a Dragon landed, the ground shaking violently for half a second. He felt the heat of flames from the same direction. As he gathered the stuff as quickly as he could, he mused to himself about the hilarity of this situation. He had a sack filled with the stuff in a minute, leapt onto his Kodo and charged through a new swarm of Geists to get to the Horde soldiers pushing through the waves of undead. Lethium and Seleyn rolled off the Kodo, looking for the plant themselves.

He was kneeling, grabbing some Goldclover, when everything slowed. He saw it coming, but the runeblade was faster than him, bursting out of the front of his body. If he could, he would have remarked the beauty of the spray of blood.. Then there was only pain for him. He rolled onto the ground, lying face-up, a hole in his side. He tried to breathe. The Death Knight raised the runeblade again, still dripping blood, and suddenly there was a flash of red. Before he slipped into unconsciousness he saw the Dragon's tail slam against the ground, crushing the Death Knight. He felt another kind of pain as Boar's teeth closed around his arm and began to drag. Then, everything was enveloped by blackness.

He hated the Scourge too.

Water. Water? He leaned up an inch, only to feel a burst of pain spinning around in his chest, as if it were swirling. He groaned, opened a single eye. Human? Elf? Lethium? He grit his teeth as another burst of white-hot pain began to assault where he assumed his wound was. Wound? Now everything was coming back. Dragons... Scourge... Death Knight. He fell back into his... Well, he didn't know what it was. But he sank back into it, trying not to move. The Orc moved closer, and Maulbane sighed quietly at what he thought was Lethium "Did we ge-..." He trailed off in mid-sentence, pain returning with backup. The Orc chuckled quietly "I wouldn't try to talk this soon, Tauren. Rest." Rest? He had a missio-... A flaring burst of pain gave his mind a nudge in the right direction. He needed rest. A lot of it.

And so he rested, without end, for six, seven days. At least, he thought it was. He was generously given food and drink for those days at Agmar's hammer, consisting of some thick, bland porridge and cold, cold water. The healers at the base told Maulbane the wound wasn't anything out of the ordinary, the necrotic magics from the runeblade didn't linger in his body. For this he was thankful, not being able to stand the thought of having that kind of stuff in him. When he was well enough he climbed carefully onto Gladestomp and arduously left the camp, on the road once more. He went straight back to the meeting point, hoping his companions were there. They were. Lethium was sitting there, looking very tired, Seleyn sharp and alert as he arrived. There was a large sack in-between the two. He let out a gasp of relief that the Goldclover, and indeed the Deadnettle, was safe. He wasted no time getting it all into a sealed crate with the help of his friends. A bit more weight was added to Gladestomp, who didn't take it happily. And so, the three set out once more, to the Tundra. He knew what he needed next, and it would take a while. The Felweed would be his in no time.

They had parted ways between Warsong Hold and Valiance Keep. He had told the two of them that it was up to them whether they would continue aiding him, but it would be dangerous. Very much so. Lethium and Seleyn didn't hesitate when they said they would find their own way to Shattrath and meet him there. After they turned towards the newly constructed keep, Maulbane rode off towards the Hold. He had a Zeppelin to Ratchet to board. As he boarded it he noted how the situation they were in was almost amusing - How even after he had seen the effects of the arcane first-hand, detesting it even more than before, they were now at the collective whims of the mages, as they needed a portal to get to Shattrath. Fate was a funny thing...

The Zeppelin touched down in the morning. Once again he was tossed out of bed by Goblins, resulting in flashbacks of his trip to Hammerfall. As soon as he stepped off of the transport his bad mood was swept away with the breeze, which he inhaled cheerily. He was back in The without wasting time he began his search. One of the first things he stumbled into was some kind of battle royale just outside the city. One thing lead to another and he managed to defeat two people in the "tournamount", before succumbing to his previous wounds. It was just something to pass the time, and he needed to keep fighting to keep his skills up. He didn't manage to find a mage capable of portals yet, though. It seemed all the mages these days were peddlers of tricks, not the kind he was looking for. While this was good, it was bad for him.

He spent the next two days in Ratchet, looking around for anyone able to create portals. His search was fruitless. Not even Wiley, who new everyone who came in and out of the Ratchet tavern, had seen any mages at all for the past week. Maulbane had no more business in Ratchet, the town was apparently devoid of magicians. And so he took a boat to Booty Bay. He was able to secure a good cabin, with enough space to keep his possessions and have room to move. He let Goretusk combat fatigue in the form of sleeping, the Boar having a snooze on a mottled-looking rug on the floor. Luckily the Goblins didn't mind the extra passenger.

Two, three days had passed. Nothing worthy of note happened, save for Maulbane eating, sleeping, drinking, what have you. The only thing he cared about was the Boat touching down at Booty Bay. Now this was a place he knew. He could smell the salt, the food in the air, the pure, concentrated pirate-y musk. Everything was foreign yet not foreign to him. He'd been here so many times, but it always managed to surprise him. And for this reason he and Goblins had a love-hate relationship. His hooves made merry "clickity-clack" sounds on the boards of one of the many docks. If he wasn't a Hunter he could have been a tap dancer. Heh. He let out a barking chuckle out loud, causing two Goblins to step back in surprise. He didn't care. It was funny. He traversed the criss-crossing pathways of the tightly populated city with a vague idea of where to go. If he remembered correctly, that is.

And, luckily, he did. The inn was rowdy, as always. Elves in every nook and cranny. One sitting on the platform above him, one staggering around drunkenly at the bar, another trying to pursuade the staggering one to stop drinking and one sitting on her own in a corner. Maulbane wasted no time in walking up to the innkeeper, one Nixxrax. "Hey, big guy! Damn, it's been, like... Weeks!" Maulbane chuckled, the Goblin really didn't forget a face. "Yes... I have a question for you, Nixxrax." The Goblin eyed the Elf for a second then looked a Maulbane, smiling and nodding "Sure thing. Lemme guess, y'need information?" The answer was a nod "Have... You seen any mages? In particular, ones... Good enough to create portals." Nixxrax pondered quietly, racking his memory as he turned around and poured a drink for an Orc as well as grabbing a few coins off the table. Now that's multitasking. He spun back over to Maulbane, shaking his head "Nup. No mages today. Sorry, big guy." Maulbane shrugged, he knew it wouldn't have been that easy. He slid a handful of silver coins to him and purchased a big room. As he walked up the stairs to the second level the Goblin proprieter called after him "You can bring the pig-thing with you, y'know. Just make sure it doesn't pee on anything!" Maulbane chuckled quietly, and nodded appreciatively. He never liked to keep Goretusk in a stable. As the Boar curled up in a corner, Maulbane fell asleep peacefully, absorbing the sounds of the tavern in his sleep...

The dream came without reason. Suddenly he was back in Mulgore, as a calf, sitting alongside the bank of what would become Stonebull lake. The sounds of celebration were coming from every direction behind the two, as it was the turn of winter. At this time of the year all the tribes residing in southern Mulgore, or at least most of them, would all go to the gigantic body of water to celebrate the coming of winter with food and drink, and copious amounts. A passer-by would see what looked like a sea of different kinds of tents, so many you couldn't count them. Well, Maulbane couldn't at that age., anyway. There was no name for the celebrations that went on then, at least not in common or orcish, but it would become known as the Feast of Winter Veil for the younger races. But for now, all of their minds were far from the future of things. Maulbane had snuck out of the celebrations for now, giggling with one of his childhood friends with their hooves dangling in the water. Although it was night, the moon was especially bright tonight.

Sarmuk, his friend since they were born, was with him, chuckling hoarsly at the jokes Maulbane would tell about their tribe leader. They had retreated from the noise of the fun and games nearby, taking respite in the cool, dark night. They could see the older hunters along the bank as well, probably Reminiscing. There were also the sounds of less innocent things going on around them. The two took no notice, though. Sarmuk, his voice amazingly low-pitched for such a young Tauren, spoke in between guffaws "D'you think we'll ever be as good at hunting as Urtok?" Urtok being the chieftan of the Fleetswoop tribe, and also the proud bearer of the combined respect of all the Tauren children in that tribe. Just pulling his Kodo-tooth dagger out inspired silence among the younglings. "I will, but not you. You can't even hit a Plainstrider!" Maulbane, not even hardly as modest as he was now, giggled at Sarmuk, who frowned "Hey! That was... It was just an accident!" Maulbane kept giggling, his voice keeping silence at bay.

They were so blissfully unaware of the Praire Wolf. It didn't wait for them to notice its prescence, and with a bark sharp enough to damage eardrums it leapt at Maulbane. Both Tauren and Wolf plunged into the frigid (It felt like that for him, anyway) waters of Stonebull. Maulbane could swim, but he was paralysed with fear. The Wolf wasn't merciful, continuing its assault on the vulnerable child. It snapped wildly at his neck, torso and face with frightening precision. At one point the Wolf burst up beside him, the two meeting eyes. As Maulbane tried to breathe underwater he stared at the Wolf, seeing everything inside and behind the yellowed orbs. The aggression, the hunger, but more than that. He saw the primal intelligence, the determination. As he was being killed by both the teeth of this animal, and the water beginning to fill his lungs, he would have given anything to be that Wolf.

It wasn't to be, though. Everything sped up as a third figure entered the water with a huge splash. Suddenly a gigantic, three-fingered fist plucked the Wolf out of the water, its head being ripped back. If the adult Tauren's grasp around the Wolf's body didn't kill it, the whiplash did. Shortly after he was dragged out of the water and summarily had his lungs pumped of the few splashes of water that got in. Sarmuk watched him with relief and as an Elder was called to the scene, bursting through the reeds quickly, Maulbane himself burst into consciousness. He groaned as he rubbed his neck. These beds were not made for Tauren.


	6. Felweed, Nightmare Vine and Seeds

Maulbane got out of bed quickly. Wasting time wasn't his forte. After brushing out some of the folds in his leather (Maulbane slept in his armor. Not out of paranoia, but he liked to be ready.) he slinked downstairs. The only people at the bar were the serious achoholics and residents who had sleeping patterns like him. In short, the crowd was one he didn't particularly want to mingle with. Instead he sidled quietly up to Nixxrax, who looked tired as he prepared a Sulfuron Slammer for some scary-looking guy at the bar. He turned to Maulbane, and his eyes lit up "Hey, big guy! I found what you're lookin' for!" He put the half-done drink down, but the patron still drank it without it being finished. Maulbane smiled with relief, a single eye closing tiredly. "You did?" Nixx nodded quickly "Yep, I did! A pretty serious look'n guy, checked in yess'erday. Might be heading to the... Whassitcalled... Harken?" The Harken? That was the ship going to Southshore. A Human one, filled with supplies for the war effort last time he checked.

He ran as fast as he could, which was quite fast (For a Tauren), to dock number something something. A few soldiers and a whole lot of workers were already pushing onto the boat, a small tide of Humans going up the buckling ramp. The mage was unmistakable, looking important in a blue, marked robe. Maulbane didn't care for formalities at this point, sliding up to him and questioning him, probably intimidatingly "Can you create portals?" The mage was obviously a little scared by a giant bovine charging him and demanding to know his abilities, but he kept his cool "Yes, Tauren. I do." Maulbane wasted no time in firing his second question over the ambient noise on the dock "Can you make one for me? I have gold." The mage stroked his well-trimmed goatee, thinking "Well, Tauren, you're a straightforward one. I expect five gold pieces" Five... That was a lot. He had no time to haggle, though. He agreed hastily and the mage nodded "Meet me at the Haggard Squall, at the beginning of the thirteenth dock." He nodded, knowing where that was. Despite the name, it was a very clean, quiet place. It contrasted against the whole of Booty Bay.

As did the mage's room. Apparently he paid the Goblins to allow him to cover the walls of his room in blue scrawl. Some of it was luminous, but most just looked like a child prodigy had scribbed on a wall somewhere. One and a half hours had passed and the Mage was sitting in the centre of the room, nurturing a tiny blue sphere just in front of him, like one would coax a fire to grow. Maulbane didn't put any effort into not being noticed, and the mage called back to him "It's ready. Hold on a moment, Tauren." His arms began to circle around the fledgeling portal, and quiet, rough words came out of his lips. The portal began to rapidly grow, until it was just a bit higher and wider than the Tauren. The Mage stood back, giving Maulbane full view of the creation. Maulbane stood closer and gave him exactly five gold coins by hand, and after a bit of hesitation, plunged through the portal.

He wasn't even able to explain how much it hurt.

But it worked. Shattrath was all around him, and it terrified him in a passive, creepy way. Crystals, Sporelings, Mag'hari and Mok'nathal Orcs, Elekks, Ethereals, everything. It was too sudden for him, and he tried to blot out all the new sights as he checked in at the nearest inn (He was so quick he didn't even look at the name), bought a bed and went to sleep. Quicky. His mind moved from his surroundings to inane dreams, nothing of any value in them, merely a chance to let his weary head think silly thoughts. When he woke up the next day, he was ready to meet his surroundings. He kept up a calm exterior as he took everything in, walking down a road in Shattrath's lower city. He didn't feel good, looking at the amount of homeless and refugees, but there was nothing he could do yet. He would help if he could. He extended the furry arm of Tauren benelovence at least twenty times on his walk, always being rejected (Possibly out of pride). He didn't mind. If they didn't need his help that badly, maybe they were doing well after all.

It was at this point he met the Draenei Xazorian.

Xazorion gazed at the group of refugees and sighed. Lower City. The deep pit of despair. Nobody watches these people. Nobody guards them. Nobody cares. Xazorion sighed once more, the little hope that it would change one day fading.

"Whereever you go..." He thought. "These poor people... Wounded... Lost their home, lost their families... And forgotten. And they... And they, up there, don't care."

Xazorion walked away from the Kurenai, raising his lantern to the eye level - it was getting dark. He saw a large piece of wall on the ground, a reminder of the battles that happened in Shattrath. Realising how tired he was, Xazorion dropped the red sack he was carrying onto the ground and sat down.

The Draenei looked down at his right hand, a frown on his face. The blue skin was scarred and bloodied. On the index finger there was a ring with a large violet jewel.

"A thing so insignificant... Yet my greatest treasure. I wish I..."

The thought trailed off, the refugee sighed again. He did that a lot. Xazorion stared into the ground, his single eye and his mind empty. Suddenly, a shadow appeared. It was approaching the lone Draenei. Xazorion raised his head and saw a Tauren in front of him. A large Tauren. He was wearing various pieces of leather armor, with some fur and feathers on them. The Tauren had brown, graying fur and a healthy-looking black mane.

"Do you need help, Draenei?" The newcomer asked.

"No... I vill... Jos'... I not, Taaren."

The "Taaren" frowned at the Draenei with the unusual accent and paused. He took a few steps back as if he would be leaving, but then stopped.

"Say, Draenei, would you be interested in an... Adventure?"

A little twinkle of eagerness appeared in Xazorion's eyes as he replied:

"Vhat you hav in mind, Taaren?"

The group had now been talking avidly for at least half an hour, in the World's End Tavern. but long story short, the Draenei had nothing in the city anymore, and volunteered himself to join Maulbane's expedition. So now there was a Tauren, a Human, a Night Elf and a Draenei. He still had no idea how these things happened to him. The trio left the tavern at about seven at night and went to find separate places to stay. Money wasn't an option, and as such they found good, decent boarding houses for the long night under the stars of another... Galaxy? Universe? Maulbane was no astronomist and didn't pretend to be one. He just knew he was further from Thunder Bluff than anyone in his tribe had ever been. It felt... Vaguely awe-inspiring. He wondered if his fellow tribesmen were still out there, doing as well as him as he slept in a Draenei-sized bed, tuning out the sounds of hunger on the streets outside.

Morning brought with it a sense of unexplainable haste. They all met up in the World's End Tavern at early morning, and of all the people in the whole city to see, there was Seleyn. Apparently she had arrived late at night, not wanting to talk about how exactly she arrived. Maulbane shrugged, let her have her secret. What mattered now was that they were ready. Supplies packed, a second-hand cart bought from an Ethereal, maps drawn up and detailed. Everything was ready, and Maulbane was like a cog. Once you wound him up he didn't stop moving until he's finished, or you break him in two. Neither of those things were going to happen if he could help it, and so the quartet left at noon, riding into unknown lands for all of them except the Draenei. Maulbane sat on Gladestomp's weathered saddle, leaning slightly forward with alertness and deliberation. The three others were in the very large cart, making space amongst the stockpile of supplies worthy of a Horde supply camp. It's surprising they even managed to fit in there. But what really surprised him was that he was even here, and even managing to cope with all these new things.

They were now well on the road. The safety of Shattrath gone, but really there wasn't much to scare them out here. Wolves could be scared away, Moths peaceful, the only things that could pose a threat were Warp Stalkers. And he already had one of their heads on his cart... One had tried to attack them about thirty minutes into the trip. They didn't notice the cat-like creature appear out of thin air, slamming into the Kodo with its claws and pushing itself off, warping out and becoming what looked like a fine, black mist.. Maulbane had absolutely no idea what was going on, but he already had his gun out. Gladestomp let out a confused roar, looking around angrily at the same time. When the Stalker appeared once more, solid, about to pounce at him, he was ready. The shot reverberated around the forest, birds fleeing the scene as it did. The Warp Stalker lay slumped down beside the Kodo, having slammed against it when the bullet penetrated its chest. And so, they were having Stalker meat tonight, and he would be able to use the horn on his spear. Nothing was wasted as they began moving on once more. The cart made plaintive sounds as it rolled across the breaking roads of the forest.

The camp was set up by night-time. It consisted of two, small, open tents, with Horde decor. The tent had been fraying, so he had to trade it for these. It would do. They settled by a river, one probably inhabited by Basilisks. Maulbane had been cooking since they arrived, and finally the Stalker meat was ready. It actually looked inviting. The four devoured it by a fleeting fire, kept small for many reasons. For one, they were in a perilous position, in between an Alliance, Horde and Elf fortress. Being seen by any of them would result in death on the spot, if they could catch them. He wasn't prepared to let that happen. Which was why the fire was looking so delicate, crafted so it was just enough to cook properly but not enough to draw attention from any of the possible threats out in the wilderness. However, nobody commented, and by the end there was just a the skeletal system of a Warp Stalker left in their camp. Even that found uses in some of Maulbane's weapons, and crushed into dust for potions. The organs were used for the same purpose, some medicines and poisons were the result of him examining the contents. An animal as majestic as this didn't deserve to be wasted at all. When night was truely upon them, Seleyn volunteered to guard the camp. Maulbane, Lethium and Xazorian slept dreamlessly and heavily.

Dew. Everywhere. He didn't expect to wake up with a little puddle of condesation under his head. He didn't even know where it came from, but it wasn't so much annoying as odd. He woke up Lethium mercilessly at five in the morning. He had all the signs of tiredness about him, but Maulbane didn't specifically care. He almost ordered him as he spoke "I need you to go to that Alliance... Town? To the south, buy some rope." Lethium nodded quickly, despite his grogginess, and, solitarily, made off to the buildings far in the distance. He would sneak in early, so that the soldiers there assumed he was there yesterday. Xazorian was the next to be cruelly awakened, but of his own accord, about an hour after Lethium. As he peered around with his one working eye, he noticed the Crocolisk corpse. Maulbane must have had company. Whatever happened, the Tauren was digging his hands into a hand-made hole in its underbelly, pulling out different organs and setting them aside neatly. The Draenei took advantage of this by turning around and taking a ring out of his eye socket and jamming it onto a finger.

Seleyn was still hunting on her own out in the woods. Xazorian and Maulbane talked to pass the time until Lethium came back, talking about what they were going to do. Things went downhill when Xazorian began choking on a piece of Kodo jerky. At least, he thought it was. It smelled like it, but so did clefthoof. But that was irrelevant. Maulbane calmly walked up to the coughing and spluttering Draenei, regarded him for a moment, then slammed him on the back. Painfully. Xazorian fell off the box he was sitting on, but he wasn't choking anymore. Maulbane's face screwed up with what appeared to be guilt "Are you OK?" The Draenei mumbled, then nodded "Yes, Taaren. Am fine." Maulbane nodded quickly, then he heard something. A crack. His hand flew to his axe, pulled it off the leather holster, and held it horizontally. He ducked down slightly and began to prowl, silently, to where the sound came from. All his concentration was placed into his senses. Then he heard Xazorian speak. "Draenei?" Maulbane sagged, but not much. It was just a Draenei. When he finally determined that this interloper wasn't going to do anything hostile, he relaxed properly.

One thing led to another, and soon the Draenei Nikolaas knew of their adventure as well. He warned against it repeatedly, but Maulbane was set in his ways. They would be going to Shadowmoon to take destiny by the horns, so to speak. Nothing would sway him now. And so, at approximately five in the morning, Maulbane packed up their camp. The little roofs of their sleeping quarters were pulled off of large, wooden supports, crates piled up onto one another (The one half-filled with Felweed was treated with care as he put it on their wagon), bits and bobs secured to the cart. It was done before half an hour had passed. The Crocolisk carcass was also fastened alongside a few oothers at the back, fellows united by death. Maulbane didn't have to wait long for Lethium who returned out of the swampy surroundings with multiple coils of rope. Seleyn came from the opposite direction with two Wolf heads. What happened to the bodies was unknown to them.

The road wasn't exactly treacherous, but the woods on either side of it were, harboring small communes of earthmother-knows-what. Blood Elves, Horde, Alliance, Arakkoa and Warp Stalkers were things he didn't want to meet right now. And they didn't. The rest of the animals in the region shied away from the Kodo and wagon. They didn't run into any patrols of Alliance or Horde, which Maulbane was appreciative of. There was so much he didn't have time to see here. Really, it would take a lifetime to see it all anyway, and he didn't have a lifetime to spare right now. The only thing that mattered now was the road and his immediate surroundings. Which were, gradually, becoming tinged with evil. He could actually smell it. And soon, the visual queues followed suit. Like the green water. Maulbane, meet Shadowmoon Valley. Shadowmoon Valley, meet Maulbane. They were going to be the best of friends.

He felt physically repulsed by this place. It defied... Everything he knew. Northrend was nothing in terms of abhorrence, compared to this. How was this even possible? It was disturbing. He kept a stable pace even as his mind began spinning. It was barely fifteen minutes into the region when he heard the sounds of battle. Wyverns, demons, Orcs, he knew the sounds. Death was in the air, as was the tangible fel, so much of it there was a thin mist of it. Still riding forward, he noticed an Orc warband to his left. They must have just killed a demon, in the corner of his vision he saw one of them jam a spear into something's head. Then they moved towards the road, all in a perfect line, looking straight ahead. Their armor was almost destroyed, colored red and green by blood, both theirs and demons', as if they were celebrating winter's veil. Maulbane didn't chuckle at the macabre joke, the Orcs keeping formation flawlessly. These were the true soldiers of the Horde... Maulbane thought back to some of the soldiers at The Barrens. He had no doubt that these warriors could cut the ones in The Crossroads in half before they even had a hand on their axe. While he had respect for them, the respect was dulled by the fact that they even had to fight this desperately to survive. Then the soldiers saw the caravan of sorts.

"Throm'ka, Tauren." The apparent leader, a gigantic Orc wielding what may have been a sword a few months ago addressed Maulbane with an obvious lack of enthusiasm. Maulbane simply nodded, and the Orc persevered for no apparent reason, voice monotone. "Where are you headed...?" Maulbane answered quickly "Shadowmoon Village." The Orc seemed a bit suspicious of the Tauren, luckily he didn't know Maulbane had a Human, Elf and Draenei in his wagon. "Well, have fun with that. The Illidari scum have blocked our supply route for the second time this week." He spat at the ground, he noticed most of the saliva was mingled with blood as it collided with the ground. The warband descended into silence, boots hitting the ground in the symphony of march. Slowly but surely the sound of demolishers entered the air. The last time he heard that sound was when the undead attacked Ratchet. Up ahead stray shots from the war-machines lit up the sky, the warband looking up at them. For Maulbane it was something to watch and analyse, but for the soldiers it was a chilling reminder that they would be fighting once more. The commander suddenly halted the soldiers, and Maulbane stopped too. The commander's voice was enthralling to the Tauren, or so he says afterwards.

"Lok-Narash, sons of the Horde! You want to rest?" Not a single soldier moved as they listened to their leader. "The only way to get rest is to break the siege of the Village, soldiers! Do you feel like earning your bed for this night?" The Orcs threw their weapons up, hiding signs of fatigue in an amazing show of loyalty. "For the Horde!" "Lok'tar Ogar!" "Swobu!" "Let us kill the abominations already!". The commander let out a pleased snort "Then let's show them what we're made of!" He gestured to the Tauren "And you will be fighting too." Maulbane let out a grim nod and they began to ride, walk and charge together, towards the battle ahead.

And what a battle it was. He counted at least three dozen demons, ten scores of battle-hardened Orcs and a few Trolls and Tauren. The demons were, well, demonic. He saw a handful of Naga, but mainly Felguards and run-of-the-mill Demons (At least for these soldiers. Maulbane barely even knew what the fel a Demon was, let alone what was supposed to be the "Garden variety"). And they were charging right into it.

It happened so quickly. As his armored Kodo began storming just ahead of the Orcs into what appeared to be inescapable, certain doom, he wondered how on Azeroth a Hunter managed to get into a situation like this. As he felt the sickening crunch of his Kodo going over what probably was a Naga he held that thought for a later time. At that point all hell broke loose. Maulbane leapt off the Kodo, crushing another Naga soldier as he disembarked. A fireball singed his back, speeding past him like a bullet and slamming straight into an Orc's head, turning teeth into a fine white mist and his lower jaw into a pulp. Another mist mingled with the residual smoke, one of blood. The Orc was instantly dead before he hit the ground... And all of that happened in five seconds. He pulled a javelin off of his back, narrowing pushing a Felguard's axe out of the way with a quick horizontal parry. Half a second later the very same javelin was in a Fel Orc's chest. Being impaled didn't stop the Fel Orc from tumbling onto the Tauren and aiming a punch for his head. The problem was that the Orc's hand was so warped by Fel that his fingernails looked like daggers. Not wanting a knuckle sandwich, Maulbane elbowed his assailent in the neck, slamming him to the ground. Taking advantage of the situation, he rolled onto the Orc and slammed a fist of his own into its head. One less bad guy in the world.

From then on everything was a blur, with pain occasionally cutting around the edges of his numbness. He had no idea what the hell was going on at this point, he barely knew what a Demon was let alone how to fight one. Twice he got gashes as long as his entire chest, one on his arm and another across his back like a sling. After an hour of non-stop fighting, Maulbane could barely stand upright. He staggered to the left to avoid a slash coming from the right, one eye half-closed. Blocking a fist weakly with his forearm he began to fall back. There wasn't any definitive 'front line' for this battle, so he just began walking backwards. However the mixture of pain, exhaustion and downright confusion had his guard almost nonexistant, let alone down. This allowed the Fel Orc's dagger to pierce the armor on his back and jolt him back to the real world. He spun around (See: Vaguely turned around) and amazingly got a punch home, to his attacker's gut. The Orc was down, for now. At this point he began to hear shouting. The shouting was coming from the soldiers. And, thank the earthmother, it was the soldiers that weren't trying to kill him. They had broken the siege.

After the Illidari retreated Maulbane retreated out of his fuzzy state of mind. He knew there were things to be done, and quickly. One, he needed his Alliance friends out of the cart and towards the Wildhammer fortress very soon. Two, he needed to stock up on supplies at Shadowmoon Village afterwards. The rest would be made up as he went along. Step one was accomplished fairly easily. When the Orc commander walked up to him, eyes meeting respectfully, Maulbane told him he needed a moment to recouperate. Eyepatch (or so he named him, only now noticing the ragged, probably diseased leather covering his right eye) nodded with more interest than the first time they met "Don't take too long or you're going to die. By the way, I'm Narg Worgscream". It was probably just him, but he liked the Orc's straightforwardness. Without waiting for a reply the commander left with his small group, joining up with even more soldiers in the distance. Lots of soldiers. Maulbane shook his head, dispelling thoughts and barking into the caravan "Get out, quickly!". The first to burst out was Seleyn, obviously expecting a small army of demons. The second was Lethium, a pale, fear-ridden face emerging from one of the many piles. He stumbled out of the cart and looked around. Last of all was a sleepy-looking Xazorian, only half-fazed by what he had heard just outside the wagon. None of them spoke as Maulbane gave the commands. "Right. See that... Road, there? You need to follow it. It's the way to the Alliance military base. There should be patrols to help you get there after a while." They were listening intently. "This is the important part. When you get there, you have three days to find any Nightmare Vine and collect it, because in three days at noon we will be meeting at the Terokkar - Shadowmoon Border." He let out a deep sigh, and added "Got that?".

All three nodded.

After that, he called Goretusk out of his basket finally. The Boar leapt out and the Kodo, Tauren and Boar parted ways with the Human, Elf and Draenei. Three days and this would be all over. Probably.

A day had passed now. He had gone straight to Shadowmoon Village with the bulk of the supplies, and even after approximately twenty four hours he was still awkward in this place. The soldiers put up with him fairly well as he went about his business and preparations. Some of these preparations involving reinforcing all of his armor with some of the bits and bobs he found on his way. He also attached the horn from the Warp Stalker onto his spear - As he wanted to. The spear now felt lighter... Well, not lighter, but somehow it felt faster. Superior. He attached it by using a sticky substance he obtained after killing a certain beast (He believed it to be a... Raptor? Maybe). After the horn secured onto the spear, he wrapped some leather and rope around it until it was very well secured. He practised throwing it, and it sounded different than before. Streamlined, maybe. He picked it up and put it with his other gear, and grabbed some of the Warp Stalker's leather, as well as the Crocolisk's. He sewed the patches onto the holes created by the Ilidari, and soon he was ready for combat. Combat, but not flower picking. For the sake of it he attached the leg of a Nerub-ar ambusher onto the end of his skinning knife. He didn't have a mirror but he was sure he looked scary as all hell. Too bad that meant nothing here.

He scraped the blood and bone off of Gladestomp's armor, as well as Goretusk's, and he fed both of them a lot in the day he spent preparing. He checked all of his equipment and maintained it to the best of his ability. And by the afternoon Maulbane was completely ready. At that point he began to ask around for Shamans, Herbalists or Alchemists. He found two, and only one of them had an answer. Apparently there was a tribe of broken, living in one of the ruins that scatter the land. However, the ruins were not what what was important. There were a group of maybe ten Ashtongue who occupied a small area west of the hand of Gul'dan. In this area they grew Nightmare Vine purposefully, for use in the Black Temple and beyond. The Herbalist, an Orc by the name of Barok Fireshadow, knew this because they had cleared the area maybe a dozen times in the past year, yet the Broken kept going back to tend to their plants. They were a nuisance, and that's where Maulbane could kill two birds with one stone. The Orc was happy to mark a path with a semblance of safety onto the Tauren's now almost unintellible map. He would go in the morning. For now, he went into the tent he kept with him and rested his head, closing his eyes and sleeping.

For one of the first times in his life everyone else woke up as early as him. The soldiers here were actually already working by the time Maulbane had pulled together his things and left Shadowmoon Village. Gladestomp was outfitted for war now. All the crates and posessions were back at the camp, and Gladestomp's armor was shining proudly. The Kodo's horn was sharpened for battle as well. On top of that, Goretusk was standing by, sitting in a crude leather harness (Easier to disembark from than a wicker basket) and watching everything as it sped by, because they were riding. He followed the track on his map eagerly, and along the whole trip he only saw a single Felboar. Luckily, it didn't see him.

And soon he saw the Nightmare Vine. It was like a farm, really. He saw about ten, twenty square meters of the stuff, being grown on badly shaped racks. It was enough for even a dozen crates. He was overjoyed, to say the least. However, he made sure he was slow in his movements. Somewhere between his herbal bounty were ten or twenty Ashtongue. And, sure enough, he saw one. It didn't notice him, too busy picking and admiring the corrupted crop. It let out a wheezing, hacking cough, cutting through the air with an extremely distasteful sound. The flower picker (Not Maulbane for once) turned his head to protect his crop from whatever could be coming out of his mouth as he wheezed. As his eyes lazily fell upon what appeared to be a... Clefthoof? Elekk? He let out an equally lazy wave. As the air was cut a second time, this time by a single steel bullet, accompanied by a small, noticeable explosion from Maulbane's rifle. At least the Broken died quickly. Maulbane didn't have time to waste now, and prepared for the inevitable battle. He leapt off the Kodo, and Goretusk took this as a command, leaping out of his harness and slamming to the ground, a tiny Boar-sized cloud of blackened dust kicked up. Maulbane had time to reload before an Ashtongue burst out of the Nightmare Vane, shouting questions in some kind of horrible language. Maulbane fired a second shot at it, but it didn't as planned. Any self-respecting engineer could have told you that the bullet hit a bump inside the barrel and ricoched in the barrel, causing the gun to jam and a hole to burst in the side. The only thing that mattered to Maulbane at the moment was that his gun was busted. He threw it to the ground, steam still billowing out of a hole in the side and in a fluid motion pulled a javelin off his back, throwing it at the only semi-aware Broken. It pierced his chest and the Ashtongue fell to the ground, groaning in pain.

It was then that two more burst out of the Vine, and they had weapons. One bent low and charged at Maulbane with an axe, the other disappeared from view. The one charging him finished the run in a leap, trying to get a pot shot at his head. Maulbane -was- going to throw another javelin, but he had to change his battle plan halfway through throwing because of this. He turned the javelin sideways and just as the Ashtongue was about to collide with him he pushed back with his horizontal javelin. His arms strained for a quarter of a second, have to both push a Broken back but also combat the Ashtongue's own force. But it worked, his combatant sliding backwards. Maulbane absent-mindedly heard a scream behind him. The other Ashtongue must have been sneaking up on him, luckily Goretusk had other plans. As the "stealthy" one was ripped apart brutally, the less stealthy Broken had taken a wary stance, holding his axe tightly. It was then that three more Broken came out from around the Vine, shouting something both at the Tauren and the Broken near him. One had a crossbow, and used it to his advantage. Maulbane felt a quarrel slam into his leather armor painfully, just below the shoulder. He grunted with pain and went on the offensive. A javelin slammed into the Broken on the left of the crossbow... Man? There was a crunch but the Broken only fell to a knee, the javelin went straight through his leg. The Ashtongue on the right of the crossbowman charged forward with an ugly-looking sword, slashing sideways. At the same time the hithero ignored Ashtongue with the axe took the hint, slashing his axe quickly at Maulbane's leg. Maulbane had unsheathed his warp-spear by now, and thanks to both his reflexes and the upgrade to his spear, held it verically. He put one foot backwards as the two weapons collided with it and they tried to push him back, but his muscles prevailed, one of the Broken losing his footing and the other stepping back by choice.

Maulbane took advantage of the one about to fall over. Without thinking he plunged the spear into the Ashtongue and lifted him up, tendons in the Tauren's arms exploding with the weight. The other Broken watched with a half-open mouth, and as he turned around to run back to the safety of his friends Maulbane swung the body once over his head to gain momentum, and then the body of the Broken's comerade slammed into him, knocking him unconscious. During all this Gladestomp had been idle, but now he was taking an active part in the battle. When yet another Ashtongue joined the two waiting at the side of the Nightmare Vine, trying to pick up the one with a wound in his leg, Gladestomp charged. The crossbowman got a single bolt into the Kodo's armor before he was impaled. The other one dumped the body of his friend, leaping backwards in shock and drawing his sword. A slash to the neck glanced off the chainmail surrounding it and Gladestomp made short work of the Broken, slamming it with a hoof after rising up on two legs and roaring. Maulbane put his foot on the body on his spear and pushed it off gently, and before the one on the ground could react an axe was buried deep into his back, a few inches to the side from his spinal cord. It was at this point three crossbow bolts slammed into Maulbane, two in the shoulder and one in his flank. The trio of Ashtongue responsible for the barrage stepped out of the racks of Nightmare Vine, already reloading. Goretusk looked over at Maulbane, worrying, and then spotted the enemy. After a mad dash towards them the Boar leapt into the air, and a slash from a dagger didn't stop Goretusk from colliding with the head of one of the crossbowmen and pinning it to the ground.

This distraction gave Maulbane the perfect opportunity to get a javelin into another of the Ashtongue. Too bad he was on his knees, groaning in pain as he tried to rip crossbow bolts out of his body. Instead Gladestomp took his place, jumping into the air and crushing an Ashtongue with a metal... Kodoshoe. There was a splatter, covering Goretusk in blood, even more blood than before. At this point the last Ashtongue was surrounded by two battle-hardened, loyal-as-hell animals of war. He did the next best thing to fighting in this situation, which was running like hell. The battle was over. Bodies were everywhere, and luckily Maulbane wasn't one of them. While he was in extreme pain thanks to being stuck like a pig with crossbow bolts, he managed to take a few dozen laboured steps towards the racks of Nightmare Vine. And so, he began the flower picking. When he had enough to fill the sacks on the back of the Kodo he almost slumped to the ground, blood beginning to seep out of the wounds, unchecked. He pulled himself onto Gladestomp with the last bit of energy he had, and left towards Shadowmoon Village. Here's hoping Gladestomp remembered the way back home. He left the place with the sounds of dying Broken playing behind him like a quartet.


	7. Epilogue

Maulbane returned to Shadowmoon Village after a few hours of riding and spent the next two days resting. Just resting. He deserved it after what he went through. The crossbow bolts were taken out of his body, the wounds healed, and the Tauren told to get on the road as soon as he could. Which he did, after collecting his Nightmare Vine and taking the seeds out of it (a nasty task. He ruined almost three crates worth of Nightmare Vine before getting enough seeds to fill He was rejuvenated when he got to the Terokkar - Shadowmoon border, and sure enough there were his three flower picking companions, holding a few sacks of Felweed and Nightmare Vine. Putting all their flowers together they had two and three quarter crates of Felweed and five creates of Nightmare Vine (If they compacted it in extremely far). They were... Done? He'd picked every flower. Though he could barely believe it, he knew it was true. He felt kind of weak, purposeless now. Which was wrong, because he still had to hand all these plants to Alistus.

The trip was dull. Well, not dull for him, but it was the same things he had seen before. He returned to Shattrath, sold some of the rare-ish things he found on the trip for a nice five gold and tracked down a mage. They were all in Booty Bay before a week had passed since they were in Shadowmoon Valley. Now they were in Booty Bay. The team split up for a while, long enough for Maulbane to get the payment for all of this mess and have some time to relax. And so he tracked down where Alistus' shop should be, and walked in...

He came, he saw, he conquered, he picked flowers.


End file.
